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Argus the
Illinois Wesleyan University
“The eyes of the Argus are
upon me, and no slip will
pass unnoticed”
-George Washington
Blo-No to get rid of Connect Transit
A shortage in funding from
the State of Illinois could lead to
the termination of public trans-portation
in Bloomington, Ill.
Currently, the State owes five
million dollars to Connect Tran-sit.
If the deficit is not resolved
by the end of 2016, the city will
shut down its public transporta-tion
services.
Bloomington residents have
expressed their concern with
the looming possibility, as pub-lic
bus ridership has steadily
increased since 1984, when the
city began keeping track.
“I don’t know what I’ll do.
It’s shocking to hear, and it’s
ridiculous,” Bloomington resi-dent
Deborah Hursey said. “It
would be such a disruption for
many lives in this town.”
Connect Transit is the prima-ry
public transit system servic-ing
Bloomington-Normal. The
system offers approximately
22,000 rides per month year
round and adds three express
routes during the academic year.
The service has various types
of vehicles to accommodate its
diverse customer base. Its fleet
is compiled of full-size 40-
foot buses to smaller “mobility”
buses, and each is equipped with
wheelchair lifts. Connect Tran-sit
currently owns 30 of the full-size
buses.
Connect Transit is also known
for its flexibility. Between its
diverse fleet and strategically-designed
routes, Bloomington
residents are grateful for its
presence.
“I don’t have a set time to
(take the bus), and that’s why
I like them so much: I can be
ready to go in about an hour and
get whatever I need,” Normal
resident Betty Higar said.
The Argus reached out to
Bloomington mayor Tari Renner
to ask about possible contin-gency
plans or stop-gap solu-tions,
but he was not available
for comment.
So far, the state owes Connect
Transit one-third of its operating
budget this year. Connect Tran-sit’s
general manager, Andrew
Johnson, said last week he was
shocked to learn the state has
not provided the money.
“It hit us very suddenly and
without warning,” said Johnson.
“The State Comptroller’s office,
only a couple weeks ago, as-sured
payments would be made
as soon as our operating assis-tance
contracts were finalized.”
Bloomington is not the only
downstate Illinois city being af-fected
by lack of funding. Peoria
is another city that has not re-ceived
earmarked funds.
The city switched to City
Link, a private bus transporta-tion
service, in 2012. City Link
in Peoria said it has reserve
funds that would last into 2017,
but not for long.
According to CityLink’s cur-rent
contract, the state is obli-gated
to reimburse 65 percent of
the company’s operating costs.
If the state has not sent the des-ignated
funds by that time, City
Link will have to consider op-tions
like cutting service or ex-tending
a line of credit.
Connect Transit encouraged
Bloomington-Normal residents
to attend the Town Hall Meet-ing
hosted by the transportation
company on Oct. 27.
The purpose of the meeting
was to “provide a convenient fo-rum
for all members of the com-munity
to share feedback and
conversation about the future of
Connect Transit services due to
state budget issues and the lack
of funding for public transporta-tion,”
according to the website,
connect-transit.com.
PHOTO COURTESY OF: MEDIAD.PUBLICBROADCASTING.NET
You may not be catching this bus any time soon.
JEFF NEUKOM
STAFF WRITER
“I don’t know
what I’ll do.
It’s shocking to
hear, and it’s
ridiculous . . . It
would be such
a disruption
for many lives
in this town.”
- Deborah
Hursey
The Illinois Wesleyan Uni-versity
Mission Statement says
“through our policies, programs
and practices [we are] commit-ted
to diversity, social justice
and environmental sustainabil-ity.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 19, the
Diversity 2015-2016 Progress
Report was given to review what
has been and is being done to
fulfill the diversity mission and
to affirm the goals for the 2016-
2017 school year.
In terms of diversity within
the student population, UCD
Committee co-chair Jonathan
Green said, “We used to have
a very homogenous student
population in terms of students
coming from a small number of
schools a small number of ar-eas.”
“In a lot of ways what we find
now is that students come with
a much broader range of experi-ences
both at home and in their
schools and a much wider range
of preparations like we have
never seen before and it has cre-ated
a much more heterogeneous
student population.”
As far as sustaining a commit-ment
to diversity, members of the
University Council on Diversity
Leadership Team were pleased
to report that the new website
for diversity, www.iwu.edu/di-versity/,
had been launched.
In addition, sites for underrep-resented
groups were improved
including the Multifaith Medita-tion
Room, Rainbow Floor, as
well as the Shirk Center gender-inclusive
locker room. Further-more,
IWU was listed as No. 38
on the Best LGBT Friendly Col-leges
and Universities by Cam-pus
Pride ratings.
Last year, the university host-ed
a little over 160 diversity-related
co-curricular programs.
This amount increased drastical-ly
from the previous year. There
were programs for just about ev-erything,
including programs for
religious diversity, sexual ori-entation,
gender identity, race,
ethnicity and women’s program-ming.
For example, there was a pro-gram
titled “Walk a Mile in Her
Shoes.” The purpose of the pro-gram
was to have the men think
about issues related to domestic
violence and abuse for women
and to stand up to it.
The program was deemed a
success as approximately 200
people were in attendance.
Another element reported at
the meeting on Wednesday was
how the General Education Task
Force is focusing on the roles
of the US Diversity flag and the
Global Diversity flag and what
diversity actually conveys in the
curriculums of these courses.
The main topic of discussion
at the fall faculty conference
held on August 26 were the is-sues
of diversity on campus.
There was a workshop in
which a sizable amount of fac-ulty
members participated in to
discuss the ways that diversity
issues would be built into the
next version of the General Edu-cation
program.
The statistics reviewed at the
progress report meeting con-sisted
of the 18 percent Multira-cial,
African American, Latino-
Hispanic,Asian-American and
Native American representation
in 2015, which was a slight de-cline
from 2014. International
student representation also de-creased
in 2015, and there was
also a decline in first-year Afri-can
American students, having
only 11 students in the class of
2019.
This year, however, there was
an increased in first-year African
American students, with 26 stu-dents
total in the class of 2020.
Goals regarding the USD
Committee and the university
in general for the 2016-2017
year include but are not lim-ited
to continuing to evaluate
and improve the organizational
structure for sustaining the com-mitment
to diversity as well as
supporting the “Women’s Pow-er,
Women’s Justice” theme.
IWU holds Diversity Report forum
POOJA PATIL
STAFF WRITER
See Diversity p.2

The Argus, Illinois Wesleyan University; printed by The Pantagraph, Bloomington, IL from 1894-2009 and P&P Press, Peoria, IL from 2009-present.

Rights

The Argus retains the rights to this material. Permission to reproduce this content for other than educational purposes must be explicitly granted. Contact argus@iwu.edu or 309-556-3117 for more information.

Argus issues published from 1894-Spring 2003 were scanned at 600 dpi on a NM1000-SS scanner by Northern Micrographics, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Fulltext OCR was accomplished by the same company in Summer 2009. Issues published from the fall of 2003-present are born-digital.

Argus the
Illinois Wesleyan University
“The eyes of the Argus are
upon me, and no slip will
pass unnoticed”
-George Washington
Blo-No to get rid of Connect Transit
A shortage in funding from
the State of Illinois could lead to
the termination of public trans-portation
in Bloomington, Ill.
Currently, the State owes five
million dollars to Connect Tran-sit.
If the deficit is not resolved
by the end of 2016, the city will
shut down its public transporta-tion
services.
Bloomington residents have
expressed their concern with
the looming possibility, as pub-lic
bus ridership has steadily
increased since 1984, when the
city began keeping track.
“I don’t know what I’ll do.
It’s shocking to hear, and it’s
ridiculous,” Bloomington resi-dent
Deborah Hursey said. “It
would be such a disruption for
many lives in this town.”
Connect Transit is the prima-ry
public transit system servic-ing
Bloomington-Normal. The
system offers approximately
22,000 rides per month year
round and adds three express
routes during the academic year.
The service has various types
of vehicles to accommodate its
diverse customer base. Its fleet
is compiled of full-size 40-
foot buses to smaller “mobility”
buses, and each is equipped with
wheelchair lifts. Connect Tran-sit
currently owns 30 of the full-size
buses.
Connect Transit is also known
for its flexibility. Between its
diverse fleet and strategically-designed
routes, Bloomington
residents are grateful for its
presence.
“I don’t have a set time to
(take the bus), and that’s why
I like them so much: I can be
ready to go in about an hour and
get whatever I need,” Normal
resident Betty Higar said.
The Argus reached out to
Bloomington mayor Tari Renner
to ask about possible contin-gency
plans or stop-gap solu-tions,
but he was not available
for comment.
So far, the state owes Connect
Transit one-third of its operating
budget this year. Connect Tran-sit’s
general manager, Andrew
Johnson, said last week he was
shocked to learn the state has
not provided the money.
“It hit us very suddenly and
without warning,” said Johnson.
“The State Comptroller’s office,
only a couple weeks ago, as-sured
payments would be made
as soon as our operating assis-tance
contracts were finalized.”
Bloomington is not the only
downstate Illinois city being af-fected
by lack of funding. Peoria
is another city that has not re-ceived
earmarked funds.
The city switched to City
Link, a private bus transporta-tion
service, in 2012. City Link
in Peoria said it has reserve
funds that would last into 2017,
but not for long.
According to CityLink’s cur-rent
contract, the state is obli-gated
to reimburse 65 percent of
the company’s operating costs.
If the state has not sent the des-ignated
funds by that time, City
Link will have to consider op-tions
like cutting service or ex-tending
a line of credit.
Connect Transit encouraged
Bloomington-Normal residents
to attend the Town Hall Meet-ing
hosted by the transportation
company on Oct. 27.
The purpose of the meeting
was to “provide a convenient fo-rum
for all members of the com-munity
to share feedback and
conversation about the future of
Connect Transit services due to
state budget issues and the lack
of funding for public transporta-tion,”
according to the website,
connect-transit.com.
PHOTO COURTESY OF: MEDIAD.PUBLICBROADCASTING.NET
You may not be catching this bus any time soon.
JEFF NEUKOM
STAFF WRITER
“I don’t know
what I’ll do.
It’s shocking to
hear, and it’s
ridiculous . . . It
would be such
a disruption
for many lives
in this town.”
- Deborah
Hursey
The Illinois Wesleyan Uni-versity
Mission Statement says
“through our policies, programs
and practices [we are] commit-ted
to diversity, social justice
and environmental sustainabil-ity.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 19, the
Diversity 2015-2016 Progress
Report was given to review what
has been and is being done to
fulfill the diversity mission and
to affirm the goals for the 2016-
2017 school year.
In terms of diversity within
the student population, UCD
Committee co-chair Jonathan
Green said, “We used to have
a very homogenous student
population in terms of students
coming from a small number of
schools a small number of ar-eas.”
“In a lot of ways what we find
now is that students come with
a much broader range of experi-ences
both at home and in their
schools and a much wider range
of preparations like we have
never seen before and it has cre-ated
a much more heterogeneous
student population.”
As far as sustaining a commit-ment
to diversity, members of the
University Council on Diversity
Leadership Team were pleased
to report that the new website
for diversity, www.iwu.edu/di-versity/,
had been launched.
In addition, sites for underrep-resented
groups were improved
including the Multifaith Medita-tion
Room, Rainbow Floor, as
well as the Shirk Center gender-inclusive
locker room. Further-more,
IWU was listed as No. 38
on the Best LGBT Friendly Col-leges
and Universities by Cam-pus
Pride ratings.
Last year, the university host-ed
a little over 160 diversity-related
co-curricular programs.
This amount increased drastical-ly
from the previous year. There
were programs for just about ev-erything,
including programs for
religious diversity, sexual ori-entation,
gender identity, race,
ethnicity and women’s program-ming.
For example, there was a pro-gram
titled “Walk a Mile in Her
Shoes.” The purpose of the pro-gram
was to have the men think
about issues related to domestic
violence and abuse for women
and to stand up to it.
The program was deemed a
success as approximately 200
people were in attendance.
Another element reported at
the meeting on Wednesday was
how the General Education Task
Force is focusing on the roles
of the US Diversity flag and the
Global Diversity flag and what
diversity actually conveys in the
curriculums of these courses.
The main topic of discussion
at the fall faculty conference
held on August 26 were the is-sues
of diversity on campus.
There was a workshop in
which a sizable amount of fac-ulty
members participated in to
discuss the ways that diversity
issues would be built into the
next version of the General Edu-cation
program.
The statistics reviewed at the
progress report meeting con-sisted
of the 18 percent Multira-cial,
African American, Latino-
Hispanic,Asian-American and
Native American representation
in 2015, which was a slight de-cline
from 2014. International
student representation also de-creased
in 2015, and there was
also a decline in first-year Afri-can
American students, having
only 11 students in the class of
2019.
This year, however, there was
an increased in first-year African
American students, with 26 stu-dents
total in the class of 2020.
Goals regarding the USD
Committee and the university
in general for the 2016-2017
year include but are not lim-ited
to continuing to evaluate
and improve the organizational
structure for sustaining the com-mitment
to diversity as well as
supporting the “Women’s Pow-er,
Women’s Justice” theme.
IWU holds Diversity Report forum
POOJA PATIL
STAFF WRITER
See Diversity p.2